Symphony Players, Management Are Nowhere Near Harmonious Resolution

Symphony, Management Nowhere Near In Tune

As the days pile up and the silence grows deeper, the question isn't merely when the Hartford Symphony will resume playing. It's whether.

With the contract dispute between the players and management about to stagger into its fourth month, the possibility that the entire 1991-92 season will be lost is entirely real.

The stalemate seems to have exhausted the ability of both sides to even meaningfully discuss their differences, let alone find a solution. The last official conversation between the two sides, which was brief and unproductive, took place Dec. 2. No new meetings are scheduled. "I don't have any hope for the near future," says Michael Pollard, a violinist and member of the orchestra committee. "The thing the other side may not realize is that, in a sense, the longer we stay out, the easier it becomes to stay out because everybody is taking other work and making other plans."

Paul Reuter, executive director of the symphony, says that no matter how bleak the situation might appear, he does not foresee the symphony's simply deciding to cancel the rest of the season.

"I don't believe it would make sense to just call it off," says Reuter. "It's too important to find a solution and that would not help find one." The next scheduled event is a pair of classical subscription concerts at the Bushnell Memorial Jan. 14 and 15. If no progress is made over the next week or two, they would become the 10th and 11th concerts to be called off thus far.

Paradoxically, while the immediate crisis shows no hint of resolution, a complicated and ambitious long-term initiative is gaining momentum. The idea of a statewide orchestra, possibly to be achieved through some kind of consolidation of several existing organizatons, is now being actively studied by the HSO board and management. Many of those involved privately see such an arrangement as the last best hope for the Hartford Symphony, and indeed for high-quality, fiscally stable symphonic music in the state.

"We do have several groups seriously exploring the possibility," says Peter Burgess, president of the HSO board. "At

the moment, it's just a vision, and visions are not set in concrete. But a lot of us are starting to feel this is the right and appropriate thing to do because the moment is here and because there aren't really a lot of other avenues."

The idea of a statewide orchestra has been talked about off and on over the years -- usually in times of crisis -- but never formally pursued. This time around, the idea has already gone well beyond the theoretical stage and was given an important lift when HSO music director Michael Lankester, speaking at a recent board meeting, endorsed the concept in enthusiastic, if general, terms.

Conversations have taken place with the New Haven and Stamford symphony orchestras, but Burgess stresses that nothing beyond pleasantries have been exchanged. "It's a little like going on a blind date, or series of blind dates," says Burgess. "We want to get to know each other better before we can even say we're going anywhere."

The state orchestra idea, however intriguing, is necessarily a distant proposition, which probably could not be realized until the fall of 1993 at the earliest.

Meanwhile, the positions of the two sides in the current impasse continue to show signs of hardening.

To quickly recap: The symphony musicians have rejected management's three-year contract offer, which calls for reducing the symphony's full-time 21-member core orchestra to part-time status, drastically cutting core players' salaries in the process. Management maintains these reductions are unavoidable because of dwindling revenues caused by the faltering economy, and by the withdrawal of the Connecticut Opera company and Hartford Ballet from the core arrangement. The players insist that the dollars already contained in the HSO's proposed budget could satisfy their demands if reallocated in their direction. Meanwhile, the players have offered to return to work under a play-and-talk deal that would pay them under last year's terms. HSO management has said it cannot afford such a deal and has called off the symphony's first nine concerts. The state labor department has ruled that action a lockout, making the core players eligible for unemployment benefits.

In recent days, the pointed lack of progress at the negotiating table has resulted in some grim new wrinkles. Among the chillier developments:

Violinist Cynthia Treggor, concertmistress of the core orchestra, has announced she is leaving the orchestra to take a position with the the opera orchestra of Teatro la Fenice in Venice, Italy.